Westminister and a Crypt

WESTMINSTER ABBEY

Back in London and back on the street! Got to take a bus to Westminister Abbey (offical name: Colligate Church of St. Peter at Westminster) today. We had an awesome tour guide that was super in-the-know about everything. While we were not able to take pictures (as Westminster is a working church) we got to learn a lot. Among some things we learned were-


-The Church was built as a get out of jail free card for Edward the Confessor from the Pope (the king had made a promise to the pope to pray with him, but his advisors did not like the idea since he had only just been returned from a kidnapping so the pope said 'build a church and dedicate it to St. Peter'). He does so and builds it near the palace.


-That the enclaves with statues were not filled until the 90s and the theme was martyrdom so among the included are Martin Luther King. (He is on the middle left.)


-That the Queen in a deck of cards is based off Elizabeth of York (mother of the infamously well known Henry VIII).

-Royal weddings happen at Westminster Abbey. On occasion there has been a wedding at St. Paul's Cathedreal. Two marriages were that of Catherine of Aragon and Prince Arthur (Henry VIII's brother) and the marriage of Diana Spencer and Prince Charles some 480 years earlier. (Both of these did not end well).


-During a period of confusion and upheaval, the bishop of St Paul takes money from Westminster for his church and the saying "robbing Peter to pay Paul" comes from this.

-There are over 3200 people buried at Westminster and numerous others have commemorations. Some of these burials/commemorations include: Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Shakespeare, Byron, Lewis Carroll, Jane Austen, etc...David Frost was recently commemorated in 2013.

Shakespeare is also surrounded by famous and great actors that performed in his plays.

Then we went off to walk about Trafalgar Square, which was great. Visited the National Gallery (no pictures) which was full of interesting paintings and history. I slid into a tour that was going on and got to hear some really interestng things about a few paintings, which was also cool.

ST. MARTIN IN THE FIELDS

The group met up for dinner at the Crypt of St. Martin in the Fields, which was delicious. And odd, considering that beneath our chairs and tables there were people. We also got cake to celebrate a birthday of a fellow classmate.

A successful day with a successful ending.